Falluja violence continues as Iraqi force arrives

Iraqi security forces were taking over positions from withdrawing US marines in the flashpoint city of Falluja today as the bloody month-long siege appeared to be nearing an end.

But hopes of a significant increase in stability were immediately undercut by a suicide car bombing that killed two marines and wounded six others. US Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt said the attack was made near the US marines base outside Falluja.

Earlier, a US official said an agreement had been reached with city leaders to allow the Iraqi force, led by one of Saddam Hussein's former generals, to patrol the city, although US forces will still be in the surrounding area.

At least one of three battalions of marines packed up and retreated from the siege lines to positions further away from the city, which is 30 miles west of Baghdad and which has been the focus point of a Sunni insurgency.

Convoys of troops and supplies were seen leaving the area and rolls of barbed wire were removed from the main entrance route to the city, as US military guards permitted civilian cars to enter.

The Iraqi force moved into the former marine positions in the south-east of Falluja, where they were seen raising the new Iraqi flag.

It was hoped that the incoming 1,100-strong Iraqi security force, called the Falluja Protective Army, would be able to succeed in calming the city of 300,000 people, a goal the US forces had failed to accomplish.

Marine Lt Col Brennan Byrne said, before the car bombing: "Initially it appears that the transition to the Falluja Protective Army is working. It's a delicate situation. The Falluja Protective Army is the Iraqi solution we've all been looking for in this area."

But General John Abizaid, who heads US military operations in the Middle East, speaking from the Pentagon, was using cautious language about the reported pullout, saying "what we have there is an opportunity, not necessarily an agreement".

He said: "It's a possible breakthrough, but certainly there are conditions that need to be met."

The commander of the new Iraqi force is Major General Jassim Mohammed Saleh, a veteran of Saddam's republican guard.

He shook hands with marine commanders at a post on the south-east entry to the city today.

A senior defence official at the Pentagon said the Iraqi soldiers' initial mission was to man checkpoints around the city.

Marines will remain on or near the city's perimeter and plan at a later stage to conduct their own patrols inside the city, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The Iraqi force will consist entirely of volunteers and will include former Iraqi soldiers from the Falluja area vetted by US authorities.

Marines went into Falluja earlier this month to find those responsible for the killing and mutilation of four American contract workers, whose bodies were burned and dragged through the streets on March 31.

The United States has recently been under intense pressure from the United Nations, its international partners and its Iraqi allies to end the bloodshed, in which hundreds of Iraqi civilians are believed to have died.

Gen Abizaid, speaking to Pentagon reporters today, said the United States was sticking by most of the objectives it outlined when the marines stormed Falluja on April 5, but he conceded that the killers had probably already fled the city.

The general appeared to soften previous demands for the insurgents to hand over foreign fighters and heavy weapons to US forces.

"Clearly we will not tolerate the presence of foreign fighters," Gen Abizaid said. "We will insist on the heavy weapons coming off the streets. We want the marines to have freedom of manoeuvre along with the Iraqi security forces."

Foreign fighters too may have fled the city, a top US military official in Baghdad said yesterday. Others question whether many foreign fighters ever joined the battle in Falluja, characterising it instead as a homegrown uprising.

The call for weapons coming "off the streets" also appears to be a softening of the previous demands to "turn over" heavy weapons to the marines.

Maj Gen Saleh met with tribal leaders in a mosque this morning, wearing his uniform from the former Iraqi military with his general's insignia.

"Falluja residents have chosen Maj Gen Jassim Mohammed Saleh to form and lead a unit that will be in charge of protecting the city," said Iraqi Brigadier General Shakir al-Janabi, who expects to be part of the new force. "Our force will handle the security issue today in cooperation with Iraqi police."

Meanwhile, negotiations were also taking place in the southern city of Najaf, where tribal leaders and police discussed a proposal to end a stand-off between coalition troops and militiamen loyal to firebrand Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Mr Sadr remained defiant, though, saying in a sermon that he rejected "any appeasement of the occupation".